Illegally tethered horses are removed in Newbiggin

Northumberland County Council.

Published:10:08Tuesday 11 March 2014

More horses have been seized from the county as part of a second enforcement operation.

A team from GRC Equine Bailiffs, supported by members of the environmental enforcement team and officers from Northumbria Police, seized a further five horses from council land in Newbiggin, as part of a crackdown on unauthorised grazing of horses on council land.

There were no injuries to officers or horses, no animal welfare issues and no disorder or arrests during the operation.

Ashington Neighbourhood Inspector, Barrie Joisce, said: “This is the second operation of this kind and should act as a warning to those who are illegally tethering horses that we are taking action against them and will remove their horse.

“Illegally tethered horses causes a huge amount of dissatisfaction in the community and if they escape they are not only causing danger to themselves and residents but also take a lot of police resources to deal with.

“We would reinforce the council’s message to horse owners to use authorised horse-grazing sites.”

The bailiff company will hold the horses for a specified period of time, after which attempts will be made to re-home them.

The council currently provides two authorised horse-grazing sites in Newbiggin and work is on-going to identify a further site, based in Ashington.

Coun Ian Swithenbank added: “The council has been clear from the start that our officers would continue this action if necessary where horse owners have ignored warnings to remove their animals from council land.”

”We have worked with partner agencies including the police, community organisations and housing landlords to ensure horse owners have been provided with the correct instructions and information regarding illegal grazing and tethering of horses.”